Ten Pieces of Inspiration #76

Each week, I highlight ten things each week that inspired me to greater financial, personal, and professional success. Hopefully, they will inspire you as well.

1. Tree devouring a sign
Nature is relentless. It will always find a way.

Thanks to Jennifer Gensch for this wonderful picture.

2. Mark Twain on education
Whenever I learn more about a subject, I become less certain about the facts I once knew about it.

“Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.” – Mark Twain

Very rarely are things as simple as they initially seem.

3. Fats Waller playing Ain’t Misbehavin’
I love 1920s jazz. It sounds so off the cuff and effortless, but even a bit of experience playing music teaches you quickly that it’s anything but effortless.

This song has been covered in many other genres over the years.

4. Bob Dylan on success
This is exactly what I strive for in life. I want to reach a point where this is what I do.

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” – Bob Dylan

The question is, what do I do then?

5. For weeds, life is fleeting
Similar to the first picture, I’m always struck by how nature conquers even the harshest conditions.

Thanks to Sam Hanes for the great picture.

6. Ray Bradbury on books and culture
Few things make me sadder than someone who doesn’t read and seems proud of it.

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture – Just get people to stop reading them.” – Ray Bradbury

Reading is the gateway to such wonderful understanding of the world.

7. Trailer for The Maltese Falcon
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. Not only do they not make films like they used to, they don’t make trailers like this, either.

There are few things I enjoy more than a winter afternoon cuddled up with my wife watching old movies.

8. Ernest Hemingway on growth
There’s only one person you should strive to feel superior to.

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” – Ernest Hemingway

If you can feel superior to your former self, that means you’ve made improvements and are moving in a good direction.

9. sleepyti.me
I’ve really been focusing on my sleep cycles lately. I’ve found that I can get what seems like a normal night of sleep and feel tired the next day, but sometimes I’ll also feel wonderful. There are also times when I have a short night of sleep when I feel great.

A lot of it seems to have to do with sleep cycles, so I’ve started trying to sleep in accordance with sleep cycles, with an alarm waking me up when a normal sleep cycle should be finished.

On a night that’s not interrupted by a child, it works like a charm. This site has made it really easy to figure out how to set my alarm. I just set it for a time as close as I can to when my children will start to awaken.

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